Sending the Wrong Message: Why Your Competitive Advantage Should Be Customer-Driven, Not Competitor-Driven

If you’re focusing your competitive messaging on how you stack up to your competitors you’re actually going about it all wrong.

At least that’s what author, speaker, and consultant Tom Searcy argues in a guest post for Inc. Searcy challenges the traditional notion of competitive advantage and suggests it should be less about what makes you better than the competition, and more about “understanding — and being able to declare — for which customers you are the only perfect option.”

In other words, “don’t define your competitive advantage by your competitors. Define your distinction by your customers,” Searcy writes. By defining your “guaranteed home-run customer” and describing the problem you fix perfectly for this ideal customer, you’ve essentially crafted messaging that not only resonates with them, but also clearly explains why you are their best – and perhaps only true — choice.